Monday, December 05, 2011

Nikki Giovanni in Santa Cruz

I just had a great, free-wheeling phone conversation with Nikki Giovanni, who will be here in Santa Cruz in a few weeks. Among the topics we covered: Martin Luther King, Jr., space travel, Occupy Wall Street, Prince Charles, writing pedagogy, and the importance of poetry. I will post that here once I've distilled it down to a Q and A. Be patient. It takes time to put it all together. In other news, I've got a slamming headache from watching the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" video on YouTube.

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Dear Dan, I have just (literally) finished your book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and though I am finding it hard to swallow the harsh dose of reality that you and Allison are no longer a couple, I'm glad you're doing well.
Thanks for your honesty, I for one have no interest in reading stories about people who know what the hell they're doing, but rather those who f@$k things up and make mistakes, and survive to tell the tale. I hope you take that as a compliment, because it is meant as such. Thanks for sharing your story - your self, your fears, your triumphs, your f$@k ups, your melt downs and the inescapable harsh beauty of the PCT. I really enjoyed reading about it.

cactuseaters said...

hi Sarah -- thanks very much for the kind words. Starting to write my book was a lot like starting to hike the trail. In the early phases, I doubted I'd ever make it to the end point. (In both cases, I guess I was able to muddle on through to the finish line -- and I hope the book inspires others to do the same.)